FOOD

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest -- July 4th -- Coney Island

Every July 4th, the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating contest takes place in Coney Island. Last year, Joey Chestnut competed against Takeru Kobayashi and won by eating 68 hot dogs (w/ buns) in 10 minutes -- 3.5 more than Kobayashi. It was Chestnut's third win. Patrick Bertoletti finished in third place with 55 hot dogs. Every year, thousands of people descend on Surf and Stillwell avenues to watch this incredible challenge among some of the most competitive eaters in the world. The event is sanctioned by International Federation of Competitive eating.

Unfortunately, this year, Kobayashi will not compete in this year's contest and the re-match between Chestnut and Kobayashi will have to wait. In 2006, Kobayashi was the reigning champion and had won against Chestnut by eating 53.75 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

So, don't forget to check out this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island. If you don't have an opportunity to watch, you can view it live on ESPN at noon.

If you haven't seen the competition before, below is a video I took in 2008 (its not a perfect recording, a little jumpy). It was an impressive match-up between Chestnut and Kobayashi, where Chestnut won in a five-dog overtime match, after both ate 59 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in the 10-minute regulation match.